US food company Eat Just is the first in the world to gain regulatory approval for its cultured meat—and it happened in Singapore. Eat Just CEO Josh Tetrick tells Gen.T how its no-kill meat isn't just good for the environment, it might also help prevent the next global health crisis
In December 2020, Singapore became the first government in the world to grant approval of the sale of cultured meat—meat produced by in vitro cell culture of animal cells.
"Chicken bites" produced by San Francisco-based food company Eat Just are now on the menu in the city-state, with other countries worldwide expected to follow suit soon.
According to Josh Tetrick, the co-founder and CEO of Eat Just, the approval process took two years in total. Within a few weeks of getting the green light, Eat Just's Good Meat Cultured Chicken, made from animal cells without having to slaughter an animal, saw its first client in Singapore private members’ club, 1880.
Eat Just is a key player in the global billion-dollar alternative protein industry. Entrepreneurs in the space say they are driven by the determination to reverse the negative impacts of the traditional meat industry on animals, farmers and the planet. When Tetrick started the company with his co-founder, Josh Balk, in 2011, they focused on tackling the most consumed animal protein in the world: chicken eggs.
Under the Just Egg brand, the pair developed a non-GMO, cholesterol-free alternative to scrambled eggs using mung bean. Since launching in the US in 2019, the number of Just Egg bottles sold is equivalent to some 80 million chicken eggs.
See also: Alternative Protein Report: Exploring The Asian Appetite
According to Eat Just’s Impact Report 2020, this translates into several positive impacts on the environment, such as saving 1.48 billion gallons of water and 2,435 acres of land that would have been used to rear chickens, and a reduction of nearly 6 million kilograms in carbon emissions.
With the history-making regulatory approval of its cultured chicken in Singapore, Tetrick is making the country Eat Just's Asian hub, and possibly home to its global manufacturing hub in the future.
The American entrepreneur discusses Asia’s appetite for cultured meat, the common misconceptions surrounding the product, and how cultured meat could help prevent the next pandemic.